Woman Combines Modern Medicine, Human Spirit To Beat Scleroderma

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NJ- Maureen Taylor almost let go.on."
It had been years since she started sufferingTaylor's story is less about a woman's search for
bizarre symptoms no doctor could explain orthe proper medical treatment than it is about a
diagnose correctly, and only a week since shewoman who finds the strength and wisdom to
found a doctor who had gotten it right. Her handsmarry her medical treatment with her journey of
had hardened into swollen claws, her skin wasinner healing. Taylor not only took back her health,
hard and shiny, and her feet were enlarged. Herbut she also took back her life.
face was so rigid, she could barely open herTaylor's troubles were foreshadowed in her
mouth. She was losing her battle withchildhood, when she began to suffer from fatigue
Scleroderma, an auto immune disorder thatand anemia. In her early 20s, she experienced
forces the body to attack itself and overproducepoor circulation. By the time she was turning 40,
collagen, hardening the skin like a rock, disfiguringshe developed aches, swelling in her hands and
her horrible and morphing her extremities intofeet, her skin began to harden, and her head and
oversized paws.face went nearly numb.
"It was a Friday night, and I had a high fever,Then she went to see rheumatologist Dr. Hal
shaking with fever," said Taylor, author of theWhitman, and he was able to do in seconds what
autobiographical A Place To Go ( "I was trying tono other doctor had been able to do for the last
gobble baby aspirin into my mouth I could barely2 years.
open. I remember struggling to get back upstairs,